Pequannock knew what it was up against Thursday night in the Group 2 semifinals.

Squaring off with the consensus number one team in the state, Shabazz (29-1), a Panthers team loaded with seniors (eight of them, to be exact) knew the upset of the year was a longshot.

They made the trek up to Vernon High School Thursday night realizing that this was likely the end of the road for them. And that was okay, they had already accomplished what they set out to do this year which was to win a sectional title.

This was “gravy” according to coach Peg Bionde.

But even with those realistic expectations heading in, walking off the court together one last time still wasn’t easy after the 68-35 season-ending loss. This is a group of girls who started playing basketball together nine years ago, in fourth grade, on travel teams. They developed lifelong friendships while evolving into one pretty darn good basketball team over the years.

This season, that unbreakable bond they created, on and off the court, helped Pequannock capture its first sectional title in program history. Nicole Hausleben said she’s hoping “2012″ gets added to the banner in the Pequannock gymnasium as quickly as possible, hoping it gets done before she and the seven other Panther seniors graduate in June. Regardless of when it gets added though, once it’s up there, it’s up there forever. It’s something they’ll all be able to look up at years from now and be proud of. They earned it.

“All four years we’ve wanted to get something on that banner. It’ll be nice to see it, appreciate it and enjoy it once it’s up there,” Hausleben said with mixed emotions minutes after Thursday’s game went final. She looked disappointed that her season and career had just ended, but was obviously proud of herself and her teammates for all they accomplished. “It’s just sad right now,” she continued. “All of us have been together for so long. But it feels good knowing in the end we put up a good fight and never gave up. We tried our best.”

And enough can’t be said about Samantha Tabakman, “the cornerstone and foundation of the program,” according to Bionde. My story in Friday’s Record is centered around her, and for good reason, as the Rhode Island-bound senior racked up an incredible 1,963 points since starting from day one, four years ago. She scored a team-high 15 points for Pequannock in her final game in a Panthers uniform.

Speaking to Bionde before the game, she now regrets taking Tabakman out during some of Pequannock’s blowout wins over the years, preventing her star senior from reaching the prestigious 2,000-point milestone. “I would always take her out once she got her average,” admitted Bionde. “Some coach I am,” she added with a laugh.

Luckily for Bionde, Tabakman is never one to worry about personal statistics. “She’s ridiculously modest,” Bionde said before adding that there was never any jealousy towards Tabakman from her teammates either — a testament to the type of person Tabakman is. Her teammates love her, for everything she does on the court and everything she does off it.

“I’ll miss my teammates the most,” Tabakman said, still battling her emotions a good 15 minutes after the game went final. “We’ve been on the same team forever, going back to middle school. It’s gonna be so different without them next year. But it was a great season and a great four years. We worked so hard for this.”

* * * * *

As for the game, it went pretty much as expected. Shabazz is just on another level talent-wise, and that’s certainly no knock on Pequannock. The Bulldogs have much bigger goals than a section and group title. They’re expecting to make a run in the Tournament of Champions later this month.

But give Pequannock credit. The Panthers took Shabazz’s first punch (20-4 after the first quarter), but refused to back down to the number one team in the state.

Bionde said one of their goals coming in was to win a quarter. And Pequannock did that, outscoring Shabazz, 17-15, in the third. During that third quarter, the Panthers cut the Shabazz lead to 15 after a Hausleben three-pointer, forcing the top-ranked team in New Jersey to call a timeout. I heard one Shabazz fan shout, “They too close! That’s enough!”

“The sectional title was our goal all season,” Hausleben said. “But we also really wanted to play Shabazz. We wanted to let them know who Pequannock was and prove to them that we got here for a reason. They probably weren’t expecting a lot out of us, but I think we put up a good fight.”

Said Tabakman: “Yea, we expected this. But we tried our best, never gave up, and wanted to have fun. I think we did that.”

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